Vuvuzela: the noisiest World Cup prompts DSP response

LONDON  The vuvuzela is a stadium-horn favored by South African football fans to trumpet support for their teams. Its use has turned the 2010 FIFA World Cup of soccer into the noisiest contest ever. Tens of thousands of fans intermittently blowing into the plastic horns produce a B-flat drone that is annoying to some, considered dangerous by others, and has created difficulties for television and radio commentators at the games.

Waves Audio Ltd. (Tel Aviv, Israel) a provider of software-based audio processing tools, has responded to the difficulties facing the 2010 FIFA World Cup telecasts by touting its noise-suppression plug-ins for use in the broadcast audio chain.

The World Cup is only a few days old but Waves has been working with an unnamed television broadcaster to produce a real-time processing chain that reduces the Vuvuzela drone during live television broadcasts.

The solution comprises two pieces of plug-in software: WNS Waves Noise Suppressor and the Q10 Paragraphic Equalizer. Tweaking of the various parameters has proved effective, the company reported, so at least some World Cup television watchers should start to notice reduced vuvuzela-noise levels.

Oh darling, what delicate ears!
I do believe that inside stadium vuvuzelas do big noise, but not on TV!
Vuvuzelas are one of the few signs of genuineness of soccer, that has become all sponsors and TV.
Long live vuvuzelas and who blows them!